Friday, August 17, 2018

Canada’s inflation hit the 3% mark for the first time since
2011 in July, an unexpected surge that puts pressure on the Bank of Canada to
accelerate interest-rate increases. The consumer price index recorded an annual
pace of 3 percent, quickening from 2.5 percent a month earlier, Statistics
Canada said Friday from Ottawa. Economists expected the inflation rate to
remain unchanged

Back home, India’s retail inflation cooled more than expected
in July due to subdued food prices after the Monetary Policy Committee raised
interest rates for the second straight time. Consumer price inflation in July
rose 4.17 percent compared with the same month last year, declining from the five-month
high of 4.9 percent in June, according to data from the Central Statistics
Office. Headline inflation slowed for the first time after rising for the past
four months. India’s rate-setting panel has hiked benchmark lending rates twice
—in June and in August—to its highest level in two years for tackling
inflationary pressure. The country’s inflation-targetting central bank has had
a long-term aim to keep CPI at 4 percent. “We took two steps, one in June and
one in August, to maximise our chances that we don’t drift away from 4 percent
and in fact we move towards 4 percent,” Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit
Patel had said earlier this month after the policy meeting.

Inflation is the rate at which the general level of prices
for goods and services is rising and, consequently, the purchasing power of
currency is falling. In economics,
inflation is a sustained increase in the price level of goods and services in
an economy over a period of time.When
the price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services;
consequently, inflation reflects a reduction in the purchasing power per unit
of money – a loss of real value in the medium of exchange and unit of account
within the economy. A chief measure of
price inflation is the inflation rate, the annualized percentage change in a
general price index, usually the consumer price index, over time.

Economists generally believe that the high rates of inflation
and hyperinflation are caused by an excessive growth of the money supply. Inflation may also lead to an invisible tax in
which the value of currency is lowered in contrast with its actual reserve,
ultimately leading individuals to hold devalued legal tender.Today, most economists favor a low and steady
rate of inflation. The task of keeping the rate of inflation low and stable is
usually given to monetary authorities. Generally, these monetary authorities
are the central banks that control monetary policy through the setting of
interest rates, through open market operations, and through the setting of
banking reserve requirements.

Four years of recession and the world's highest inflation
have plunged millions of Venezuelans into poverty. Supermarket shelves in the
capital Caracas have no food as Venezuela's economy sinks into the abyss- in January, a non-governmental
organization found that more and more Venezuelans, unable to afford anything
else, were buying dog food to feed their families. The situation is reported to
be especially dire for prisoners in the country who have resorted to eating
rats and pigeons to avoid starving to death. Looting has been increasing in the
provinces since Christmas, with food shortages and hyperinflation leaving
millions of people hungry, though the capital, Caracas, has mostly lbeen
unaffected. Stories of degradation and deprivation come out of Venezuela at a
'relentless clip', the Washington Post recently reported. Life has seldom been
so challenging for people living in shanty towns- and that is a reflection of the misrule.

It is estimated that as many as four million Venezuelans -
more than 10 percent of the population - have left the country.That is an exodus on a similar scale to that
of war-torn in Syria. Now MailOnline
reports that Venezuela will cut FIVE ZEROS from its currency in a desperate
attempt to battle economic crisis which is set to see inflation hit one million
per cent.

Media reports suggest that Venezuela is minting a new
currency with five less zeroes than the bolivar in a desperate attempt to stem
inflation and tackle its economic crisis. The new 'sovereign bolivar' will
enter circulation on Monday, which has been declared a national holiday so that
the population can get used to the new banknotes. Inflation in Venezuela is forecast by to
hit a million per cent this year, with a cup of coffee now costing around two
million bolivars.President Nicolas
Maduro said the virtual petro currency,
which was launched in February, would be a second 'accounting unit' for the
country alongside the bolivar. Maduro said the virtual petro currency, which
was launched in February, would be a second 'accounting unit' for the country
alongside the bolivar and would have an official exchange rate.

Maduro said he would unveil a new salary and pricing system
which would be anchored to the petro, which is backed by oil, ABC International
reported. Venezuela's president said the country's central bank would publish
an exchange rate for the new virtual currency.In March,US President Donald Trump banned Americans from
using the cryptocurrency in a move to stop Venezuela using it as a way to avoid
U.S. sanctions. The executive order described the petro as an 'attempt to
circumvent U.S. sanctions by issuing a digital currency in a process that
Venezuela's democratically elected National Assembly has denounced as
unlawful.'

The currency reforms are the latest effort to shore up the
country's struggling economy. Gasoline is practically given away in Venezuela
with the subsidy, meaning a single liter of gasoline costs a bolivar, which is
next to nothing. A dollar exchanged on the black market would buy nearly five
million liters. Maduro has announced that Venezuela's dirt-cheap fuel will be
available only to people with a special government aid card that the opposition
has denounced as a tool for controlling people. People who want to keep
benefiting from subsidized gas prices in this oil-rich nation must register
their vehicles by Friday using the so-called 'carnet de la patria,' or
fatherland card, which provides access to government assistance.

1 comment:

There are more courses are available to getting knowledge about inflation. The economic sources are affected by the rate of inflation. The product prices are increases and money value can be reduced at the time of same. The person salary is not increased. That period is called inflation. The GST rates are includes with the product price. So the prices is more and not able to buy the product by poor and middle class people. I have learn more rates for the products from online